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The Holy Game of Diablerie
The Holy Game of Diablerie, also known as Twins Waltz or Four Card Prayer, is a traditional card game of the Folk. Ordinarily it was a game played between two people but some three or four player variants are known to exist. The game originated as a gambling practice but was quickly picked up as a holy practise of followers of the twin gods Dagha and Chwerfin. Rules The game is played only with a single deck of playing cards with the jokers removed. The first player (decided by coin toss usually) chooses either Dagha or Chwerfin with the other player taking the unchosen option. Dagha's goal is score as close to the target number as possible without going under. Conversely, Chwerfin's goal is to score as close to the target number as possible without going over. The deck is shuffled and each player draws two cards, one of which they reveal to the other player and keep face up and the other which they keep to themselves. Then four cards are drawn from the deck and three are revealed to both players and placed face up on the table with one remaining a secret. These four cards when totalled together are the score both players are aiming for. Each player then takes turns drawing new cards to add to their hands from the deck as long as they wish to. Every other card a player draws must be revealed to the other player. When both players are satisfied with their hands they each reveal their entire hands and then the final scoring card and calculate how far each of them was from their target, the closest player wins. If a player goes over or under the total when they are not allowed to, they lose. If both players lose, any wagers continue over to the next game, no matter if the original players continue to play or not (if the deck is passed to a new set of players they inherit the wagers). Variants Coward's (or Child's) Diablerie In this variant few rules change except no card is ever hidden from either player and all cards are placed face up so all values are known. Usually played to teach children the basic rules but some people insist on this rule set when playing with friends or family as to not get so competitive. Thief's Diablerie In this variant instead of drawing a card on their turn a player can instead to swap one of their revealed cards for any of their opponent's face down cards. The player who instigates this swap cannot look at the card they have taken until the end of the game. Joker's Diablerie Jokers are not removed from the deck in this version. If at any point a joker is revealed face up before scoring both players must begin the game again and raise the stakes, either by a set amount or by doubling. Gibbet Waltz This variant exists solely in the city of Gibbet and was pioneered by the mousefolk Lord of the Fate Ward, Madog Gwyend. The biggest change in the rules in this variant is that two of the four score cards are played face down, instead of just the one. Similar to the Thief variant this version also features the trading of cards. Instead of drawing a new card on their turn a player can instead swap one of their face up or face down cards with one in a similar state (face up for face up, face down for face down) from the scoring cards. Three Player Diablerie This variant is usually only played for fun with no serious stakes being placed on it. In this version two of the players take the traditional roles of Dagha and Chwerfin whilst the third player takes the role of Mischief. Mischief plays the role of the scoring cards from traditional game and their goal is to cause both players to fail. One their turn Mischief can swap one of their cards with a new one from the deck or reveal one of their cards to hide another. Due to the notable difficulty of their task if Mischief wins it is traditional that each of the other players owes them a drink. Four Player Waltz In the four player version very little changes except two players take each role. When scoring happens the Dagha and Chwerfin who were closest to the score must go one final round against each other by picking one of their mirror players cards to add to their hand. The winner is then the person who is closest to the score or who has not failed. If both these players fail the two original losers win.